Should the Holocaust be Taught in Schools?

Almost 85 years ago, in 1933, one of the most atrocious and brutal events of history was in full speed. Around 9,000,000 innocent souls were taken because of the hatred of someone else. What was this event you might ask? The Holocaust.

When young, charismatic, Nazi (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, there was no limit on the horrors and anguish he could create. Adolf Hitler believed that Germany, and in the near future the whole world should look and pray a certain way. He thought that the fair skinned, blond haired, and blue eyed Germans, or Aryans, were the supreme and only race of the world. Hitler targeted his views on Jews, homosexuals, the disabled, gypsies, and any other race that was “inferior” to the Aryans (Nazi Racial Ideology). The solution, concentration camps and imminent death. In 1933, the first concentration camp, Dachau, was opened. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis transported Jews to ghettos (gated living space in city) and concentration camps in order to inflict pain and abuse on them. The conditions were inhumane and torturous. When concentration camps weren’t cruel enough, the Nazis installed killing centers in the largest camps. The burned them and gassed them until finally, the allies (America, England, Soviet Union, and France) raided the camps in 1945 (The Allies). Once all the casualties were counted, 6,000,000 Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by Nazi Germany.
The torture they faced is so cruel and so unimaginable that today’s generation has no concept of truly how atrocious it was. For many, this subject is touchy because it has to do with religion, extreme death, complicated idealism’s, and unfathomable brutality. Many parents, teachers, survivors, and students are wondering if this subject is appropriate for school. I wholeheartedly believe, even though I am Jewish, that the Holocaust should be taught in schools. There are ways lessons can be conducted that aren’t insensitive and offensive to victims and survivors. Teaching the Holocaust at a young age allows children to learn the roots of prejudice and anti-semitism (United States Holocaust Memorial Musuem). It is so important to introduce children to these issues so that they grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong and good and evil. I know this topic is pretty dark, but it’s important to share this message so the future generation can prevent history from repeating itself.

~Ellie

Grand Theft Auto 5 Sales Going Through the Roof!

In just three days Grand theft Auto sales break a record making a billion dollar in gains from mostly teenagers. Grand Theft Auto made 1 billion in three days which took Call of Duty: Black Ops 15 days to make. Grand Theft Auto 5 takes place in Los Santos and San Andreas. There are 3 main characters Trevor Phillips, Michael, and Franklin. They are each criminals and are forced to work together in a series of missions.

This game is rated M for mature meaning 17+ yet a lot of their earnings come from the parents of 12 year olds and older. Grand theft Auto 5 includes a torture scene and you can even run over and shoot innocent people. It also promotes drugs and alcohol. I have an older brother who is 13 and yet most of his friends own Grand Theft Auto. However it is the parents choice whether to get the Grand Theft Auto for their child or not. What about the kids who go over someones house and play it. I think its totally unacceptable for a 12 year old kid to play this kind of game. It might even influence their choices in life. The fact that makes it worse is that you are killing innocent people at least in war games you’re protecting your country and not just taking lives freely. I don’t think a game like this should be on the market and if you are enjoying killing people even if it is game then that’s a problem.

~Hailey

Horrible Kenyan Mall Shooting!

People have died in the nations’ capital of Nairobi, Kenya after a major mall shooting on Saturday September 21, 2013. The group known as Al-Shabaab took over Westgate Mall and randomly killed people. Unfortunately, Kenyan men, women, and children have been innocently shot and killed in this awful take over of the mall. People are still missing under the collapsed building and 67 people have been confirmed dead. A widely popular radio show host, Ruhila Adatia-Sood and her unborn child were killed in this shooting. Many viewers of the radio show, Radio Africa, are grieving for her and her family. The wait for the other victims is still so unbearable for the community. To read more on this event, please click on this link.

This situation at the Westgate Mall was horrible and dreadful. It was a really bad moment in time.This group, Al-Shabaab is very evil and cruel. I feel really bad for all the families and friends of the people who died in this tragic shooting. The children whose parents died are never going to have the same life. It would be super difficult for me to go on in life with one parent. Life for the people of Nairobi, Kenya now will be very difficult.

~Rachel

What’s the point?!?

Waking up in the morning. Rushing to catch the bus. Staying up until 3 a.m. doing homework. Freaking out about a test. All for what? School. A recent study by the Associated Press and MTV found 85% of students from the age 13-24 experience large amounts of stress daily. This is a full 10 percentage points higher than adults polled in a earlier study. That is crazy. All the adults always say, “Oh, you’re lucky you have it easy,” or “I remember the old easy days.”
In my opinion, children should be saying that to the adults after seeing results like these. All adults do is get paid to go sit on computers, tell students what to do, and socialize with their friends. Children don’t even get paid to go to school we have to go there by law.

What is the point of school anyways? In Social Studies all we learn about is dead people and the happenings of the world 1,000 years ago. We have Wikipedia and Google for that. In Math we have to write every single equation out. Are you joking? They created calculators to do the work for us and then we write the answer down, not what we just typed into a calculator. In Language Arts…we speak English and people understand us, what else do we need? One word for Spanish…Dora. Don’t even get me started about Science. Anyone can put a key on a kite during a thunderstorm, you don’t have to be a brilliant scientist. Oh my gosh, how do they even go out into public with hair like that? I would be humiliated! In conclusion, the government is putting a lot of extra stress on children that should be out enjoying their “easy” years and worry about things when they are older.

~Vivian Bronson

The Brutal Honesty of Texting

“Don’t just text them, call them!” is a typical demand given by parents of children bearing cell phones. Adults can’t stand to watch their kids text, text, text and don’t talk. They don’t think those kinds of relationships are real. Studies prove differently however. A test shows that people communicate much more effectively and truthfully through texting. This came as a shock to many. You would think talking face to face would reveal much more honesty, but in reality, teenagers feel much more comfortable behind a screen, where no one can see them.

Personally, I didn’t find this surprising. I find myself to be much more truthful over the phone because it gives me more time to think before I send a message, when in person, people expect an immediate response. This could be both bad and good. When kids are honest over text, they’re brutally honest. No sugar coating. They think that when they have the chance to say whatever they want to someone without them seeing it, that they can literally say whatever they want. However, shy kids may take advantage of being honest over texting. They have more confidence when no one can see them. Overall, you need to be responsible for what you say over texting. Just because the person can’t see you, doesn’t mean you won’t hurt their feelings.

~Emily Peck

Boys Locker Room Project Locked Up!

For weeks now there has been talk about the boys locker room at the high school. Parents are outraged at the condition of the current locker room. Currently to get to the locker room you have to walk down a flight of stairs into the basement. Parents think that their kids shouldn’t have to go all the way to the basement just for gym class. They want a cleaner better room for the kids to change in.

Public building commissioner chairman, John Purtill, says that nothing is going to be done this summer. There isn’t enough time to do the work that needs to be done. There would only be about six weeks before the sports season starts. There is no way that a project like that could be accomplished in such a short time. I think the project should be started over this summer and completed the next summer. That way the building wouldn’t interfere with the school sports season and the locker room would be improved.

~Brianna Hunt

CELL PHONES?

We live in the decade of electronics that surround us. Ipods, Ipads, computers, video games, 3D TVs, and cell phones. All these luxuries make our lives better. But letting young kids like in third grade own cell phones is absurd. Cell phones are used for emergencies only. Sales men and lawyers use cell phones for their work. So what will a little 10 year old kid use a cell phone for? Texting his or her friends? Cell phones are a device to use as part of jobs, for emergencies, and important situations. Why would any parent let their little kid own such an expensive device for no real reason for using it?

Many kids that are in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade own cell phones. Why? There is no reason a kid at that age should own one. I got my first cell phone toward the end of 6th grade. I got my cell phone because I was biking to school a mile every day [AKA for SAFETY]. Yet kids in lower grades have no set reason to own a cell phone. What will a youngster do with a cell phone anyway? Probably nothing. These cell phone owning kids think its cool to own one. “Hey look I just got the new IPhone 4s.” Who cares, you are in 4th grade why do you need that? They don’t. The parents of these cell phone owning kids at such a young age are teaching kids the wrong aspect in life by giving their kids a harmful device. Also, kids are clumsy at a young age and that new $200 IPhone 4s you just got him or her could be broken in days, or lost. All I am trying to say its ridiculous for a kid to own any kind of cellular device at their age. Sure let them own one at 12, 13, 14 and on but not at 9, 10 an 11. Kids in their teens can be trusted with such a device and have a better reason to own one. Going on dates, hanging out with friends, and being out of the house is a good reason to own a cell phone for important emergencies that occur often. Lastly, I disagree with any parent that lets their young-lings own an expensive device for no particular reason.

~Russell Jasman

The Twin Brother I Never Had

I have never ceased in my aspiration for a twin brother. I am the eldest of three girls. My two younger sisters are identical mirror twins. Often, my sisters would arouse my jealousy when I would ask to play with them and they would respond with “We don’t want to play with you,” or, “Well, we’re in the middle of a game…” and shut me out. Even the ability to say ‘we’ was, in my eyes, a blessing of which I was deprived.

Whenever I would voice my opinions to my parents of my desire for a twin, they’d laugh and say, “It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?” I would laugh along with them, but inside I was crying, wallowing in my despair.

A few years back, when suddenly having a boy for a friend meant you were a package deal and boys and girls started to walk their separate ways, my ultimate wish went from just a twin to a male twin. I guess I was lonely after loosing one of my best guy-friends to the evil clutches of deadly rumors and wanted some comfort, even if it was just my imagination gone wild. I figured a boy my age who I was close with, who I could talk to in earnest without either of our friends reprimanding us, I could figure out the secrets to what makes guys tick.

I’m closer to my parents because of my lack of sisterly affection, but my parents con only teach me so much about social etiquette. They were my age once, sure, but that was 30 to 40 years ago. Things are very different now. But if I had a brother who I could share secrets with, lean on both literally and metaphorically, and have him do the same with me, I feel I could walk this world with a little more confidence, in the knowledge that I am not alone. But I would never trade my sisters for a twin of my own.

My parents meant to only have two kids. Katie and Liz were not supposed to be twins. I would – no – I could never trade anything for my sisters. I’ll just have to make do with what I have, be grateful for it, and support my friend in appreciating and staying on good terms with her twin brother.

~Ariana Harris

Acting Too Mature

Nowadays, I see kids (6-10 year old) dressing like adults. They wear overly expensive designer brands. Once, I went to the mall and saw a seven year old wearing a lot of makeup and carrying a Coach purse. My jaw almost dropped to the floor. I mean, I don’t even have a purse, especially not a designer brand like Coach. As the generations come and go, younger kids are dressing much differently than my friends and I did when we were in elementary school. I wore Limited Too and Gap kids.

Also, the kids watch a lot of inappropriate TV shows. They watch shows like Jersey Shore. When I was younger I was watching “Drake and Josh,” “Dexter,” etc. But, I think that having this on TV is not good for all ages. I like to watch Jersey Shore but, I’m fourteen and they’re seven. There’s a big age difference. Finally, to conclude, I think that parents should not be letting all this slip by so easily for their young children.

~Sonja Pejovic

Are Violent Video Games Okay for Kids?

One time I was in Game Stop with my sister and I saw a preschooler holding Call of Duty: Black Ops while their mother was paying for it. Another preschooler next to him was looking at an advertisement for the newest Call of Duty game and said “Mom, Mom! Can we get that next?!?!” Does that sound right to you, or is it just me? I think that kids that age, or kids of any age under the age the ESRB recommends, shouldn’t play games like that.

Just think about it. Most of these games have war, guns, drugs, and alcohol. Kids can’t have or do any of these things, so why does it make it okay for them to play them? These games could influence them to do something they shouldn’t in the future or add more profanities to their growing long list of them. Also, when playing on Xbox you can play with people that you don’t know on the Internet through Xbox Live. The real issue there is that you can also talk to them. Which, if you pay any attention to the news, is a potentially dangerous situation since you don’t know who they are and what they can find out about you.

I could keep going on and on about these games that are meant for responsible adults and not kids, but I think I made my point clear. Next time you sit down and turn on your Xbox, think twice about what game you’re going to play. It will help you realize what you’re getting yourself into.

~Taylor McKinley

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Dodd Middle School Student's Musings

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